Question IV: Where, and when, tithes are to be paid

RECEIVED custom is to be observed in this matter; for in many places tithes are accustomed to be paid in the field itself, when the fruits are gathered, and then the Lord of the tithes must be admonished to be present, lest he be defrauded or robbed of the goods owed to him. In other places the untithed fruits are heaped in barns and afterwards tithed. And if for a space of ten years it has been the custom to carry the untithed fruits into barns, this must be provided at the expense of the Feudatories themselves, or of the Lords of the field; since that time induces a prescription having the force of law; but if that custom has not made a law, the Lord of the field will not be bound to anything else except to admonish the one to whom the tithes are owed; and if he is unwilling to present himself, they can be left separately in the field.

As to the time, however, at which this must be done: if the Tithe is personal and is accustomed to be paid, it must be paid immediately after the gain is acquired; because it is owed on gain acquired: therefore then it ought to be paid; yet if it has been introduced otherwise by custom, that custom is to be followed. See Lessius lib. 2. cap. 39. dub. 3. num. 26., Suares, Valentia, Azorius, Vasquez, Molfesius, and not a few others whom he cites and follows, and Bonacina disp. ult. de praecep. Ecclesiae, quaest. 5. p. 5. et 4.

THE SAME reason holds also for the praedial tithe. For it is owed once the fruits have been gathered; therefore it must then be paid. It can be added, in confirmation of both, that the payment of any Tithe falls under an affirmative precept, which is to be fulfilled at a definite time; and no definite time is more suitable than when the thing owed is in the power of the debtor, nor is there any sufficient reason or custom to compel postponing the payment. Moreover it is prescribed in cap. cum homines, de decimis, that it be so paid.

HENCE you have that for the payment of Tithes it is not required that they be demanded, but that they ought of themselves to be paid at the appointed time; where, however, a contrary custom prevails, it is not to be contradicted. Truly, if from the time fixed for payment the debtor is in delay, at least in respect of those tithes which are accustomed to deteriorate by delay, he will be bound to repair the loss. The time of payment begins for wool at the shearing of the sheep, for calves and other offspring of animals when they are maturely separated from their mothers; likewise dairy products are tithed when they are reckoned perfect in their kind.